This invention relates to an improved booster cable assembly, e.g. an assembly used in starting a battery of one automobile by utilizing direct current from the battery of another automobile.
There are known to be a number of problems associated with the use of booster cables or "jump cords" as they have previously been constructed. The primary problem is that the user may connect the wires to the wrong terminals or in the wrong order and, in some cases, cause the gases in the battery to explode. Often the terminal intended for grounding on the automotive frame is connected to the terminal of a battery. This presents a substantial risk of creating a spark which will explode the battery gases. The most common configuration of booster cables known in the art is a pair of conduits of equal length, but usually colored to distinguish one from the other. It is also known to fasten the two conduits together over a major portion of their length. Again color is relied upon as the primary way to identify what clamps are on a given conduit.
Neither of the configurations provide any structural feature which decreases the significant number of injuries resulting each year from misuse of booster cables.
The problem of booster cable safety is multi-faceted and much discussed in the literature. See Consumer Reports of January 1979 including articles on "Battery Booster Cables" and "How to Use Booster Cables Safely". See also the article entitled "The Bomb Under the Hood" published in the Journal of American Insurance, Vol. 56, No. 3. Both of these articles emphasize the safety aspect of making the last connection to a ground, preferably, an engine block as does the Fact Sheet No. 82 relating to batteries and published in a revised version in January 1977 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The last-mentioned two articles use italics to point out the urgency of the warning. The urgency is further emphasized by the statistics on injuries, usually eye injuries, presented in the Journal of American Insurance (about 21,000 injuries from batteries in 1979, representing a 30 percent increase from 1978) and in such articles as "Batteries Boost Eye Injuries" in The Sight-Saving Review (Spring 1977 issue, published by the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness).
These reports have resulted in numerous attempts to improve safety by changing battery design. These reports have resulted in numerous attempts to develop labels and marking means to alert users of booster cables to their proper use. The latter attempts have been largely unsuccessful, very probably because a lot of battery-boosting goes on after dark. (Quite a number of injuries have occured from matches being used as a light-source preliminary to connecting booster cables.) The aforesaid Consumer Reports article (January 1979) discusses booster cable design very specifically and with safety as the principle criterion for rating their use. Yet, nothing in that article suggested that a new construction of the booster cable could be used as a means to instruct and remind the user in their use.